Playful, intelligent and charismatic, the otter’s story is one of secret aquatic wanderings, strong family bonds and mischief as a way of life. Yet otters are in decline.
With most species of otter threatened around the world, these animals need our help now. In the UK, intensive farming practices led to polluted rivers, with disastrous results for our Eurasian otters as they only thrive in the cleanest water. But having been once almost extinct in the UK, they’re now a real conservation success story. Every county in the UK is now home to wild otters and we’re starting to see them returning to areas where once they were lost. But, there’s still lots of work to be done before we see them thriving in the wild and recovering to their former numbers.
An adoption like yours will support our work creating new wetlands like Steart Marshes which gives otters hundreds of hectares of new territory. We can also improve wetland corridors for otters to use to roam freely and hunt. It means we can also build artificial holts to support breeding otters by offering them shelter and safety to raise their pups.
A group of river otters is called a pack or a romp. They get the latter name because of their playful behaviour. What’s more, each otter has its own individual scent, which research suggests helps other otters know their role within a population.
Our otters never fail to amaze. Support our work to conserve these remarkable species.